I need to know what you think here....with this image someone has asked "what was the camera focusing on". Of course this person offered no advice nor told me exactly what seemed wrong. It looks fine to me however, I'm wondering if it doesn't look right to others as well. Please be honest....rip it apart...I'm trying to improve so my feelings will not be hurt.

I think we need a check-box in the gallery that says, "Please be honest and give helpful advice, (I'll ignore it if the advice is stupid)." [The folks in this forum are usually pretty helpful and understanding. ] I like this image; it is soft and prickley at the same time. It is mostly about light and image tone, not a scientific illustration of a bur. The selective focus is very appropriate to the mood of this picture. At this close range, the physics of the lens demands that only a narrow slice can be in focus at one time. As you have done, this can be used for artistic affect. The choice is always "which slice?" You can make the slice narrower or wider by changing the f-stop. Larger number gives wider slice, but then needs slower shutter (and a tripod), faster film (more grain), or more light. Sharpest focus is always exactly where you focus on, but extends some closer to the camera, and somewhat more farther from the camera. So there is always a little more margin for "error" farther away. You can use this to widen the slice of sharp focus by focusing a little bit closer than the exact point of interest. In this picture, possibly, you could have focused more on the center bur, and still kept the "1 o'clock" bur in acceptable focus. But this is an artistic choice. That is the nice thing about the digital cameras; you can quickly compare without so much squinting through the viewfinder. Selective sharpness is a very powerful artistic tool to draw the eye exactly where you want it to look. [On closeup things like this that don't move, I've had some fun putting the camera on a tripod, and making several images each focused on a different plane. Then put them together in Photoshop. The result has things in focus that could never normally be in focus.]

I don't know what could be wrong with this shot....there's no crap cluttering the background (like other plants or so), the depth of field is good, nice contrast and good sharpness. Perhaps if someone's a real pain in the behing or is in a bad mood, one could say that the focussing isn't done in the center of the object (the lower half is a bit less sharp than the top half) or that there could be more/longer transition in the blurring, but that would be a bit far fetched. Anything else would be complete rubbish, cause it's very good. Btw, Misha, some camera's have various focussing screens that are made for special purposes, like macro shots. There's one for my camera (nikon f4) that offers a lot of contrast.....and there's also a macro eyecup. But I'd say that this DOF is just about the shallowest you could ever get (without the use of bellows). Awesome stuff.

This was done on my digital...with the aperture at 3.5, shutter speed of 1/250 and the lens at 49mm. I let the autofocus do it's own thing......I've never used autofocus lenses before. Anyway thanks for the feedback, I like constructive critiscism....but can't stand vague critiques that don't help and are more like veiled jabs than anything else. Actually, it wasn't anyone here on Renderosity it was somewhere else. Oh and thanks for the mini-lesson on depth of field. I'll have to try the Photoshop trick sometime.

Whoever asked what was in focus prolly didn't wait for the image to load. There are only two small things I'd suggest (I believe I already commented about how annoying these things, burs, are, lol). Give a lil more contrast, and use the Unsharpmask just to bring the focus that eency weency bit sharper that it could be. Personally, i think its a fine image Mitch.

incidently, I really like the shallow DOF on this. Shallow DOF is always harder to attain and requires and extra second focusing. Something like this shot would be better done focussed manually, but the auto did a nice job.

sometimes its tough going when people make comments that feel negative, and do not support them......However, its really an interesting photograph, very still feeling from it....I want to say that I appreciate Alpha's rework as well, bringing out the gorgeous play of light on the needle/prickers in the middle......Then to me, in the left corner I see a hint of purply heather color that is beautiful as well. Please dont be discouraged, and keep posting, your work is sooooo good. I posted an image of my mother, and someone wrote "Daddy STOP BEATING MOMMY", so, there are all kinds that make the world go around......Smile!

This is what I love about this forum, I almost always learn something new! Thanks for posting this image Michelle. And thanks everyone for your really good advice and answers...which I shall now take on board and put into practice also (especially that multiple DOF shots into photoshop one...sounds interesting) Cheers everyone!

I like the shot alot, Michelle. I think the best shots are the ones that come almost by accident.